After attending the Tech-to-Go conference in New York City on November 9th,I realized that the most important thing I could write about was that such conferences could be very useful. Even though I have been using new technology with my students for 4 years, I learned new ways teachers could use technology in all subject areas. Finding new resources and devoting some time to learning new techniques will expand your ability to use technology in the classroom. 

The best way to learn about conferences for technology in education is to ask the people responsible for technology education in your school district or school. You can also do an advanced search and type in three words," education technology conference." When I did this, I came up with many conferences, in locations as diverse as Tennessee, Washington State, and Texas. Some are free. You might be able to ask your school district to pay for those that are not. 

Other ways to learn about how to use technology in your lessons with your students is from courses given by graduate schools. I took two summer courses offered by the City University of New York. They were sponsored by the New York City Writing Project, which is run out of Lehman College in the Bronx. The National Writing project is a national organization with branches all over the country. I highly recommend any course they give for teachers of all subject areas. In one of these courses I actually produced lessons and web pages I used with my classes. Their web site is http://myclasssite.org. 

The link to the National Writing Project is http://www.writingproject.org/; go there to find a branch near you. 

One resource near and dear to my heart is TeachNet. TeachNet is a program for K-12 public school educators interested in developing, digitizing, and disseminating web-based curriculum materials. TeachNet offers workshops to help teachers develop curriculum design skills and to learn effective methods of implementing web-based content and activities. Teachers present their work at local and national conferences. I worked on units published by TeachNet. Many units are already online and available for use. It is a great way to bring technology into the classroom. For access to already published materials available at all grade levels, go to http://www.teachersnetwork.org/TeachNet/ 

For more information about joining TeachNet, go to

http://www.teachnet-lab.org/teachnetblastsept.htm.

In conclusion, if you need to become more technologically literate, look around for opportunities. Then be willing to devote the time to learning how to use technology in education.